Hello
Gentle Reader
The
father of the Pinyin—a Romanized version of Chinese; Zhou Youguang has died in
Beijing on January 14th at the age of 111. Pinyin was adopted in
China sixty years ago. The new form of writing however was not a destruction of
the previously ancient language, but rather a new way of exploring and becoming
acquainted with the language, and its tens of thousands of characters. The
revolutionary language enhancement has increased literacy in China since its
adoption, assisted students in learning the language, and has now helped the
blind read the language in braille. Recent development however, has seen the
language now capable of reaching technological mediums, with the characters appearing
on keyboards and cell phones. Its thanks in large part to Pinyin that the Mandarin
language was simplified to changing and redeveloping how the language
interacted on a global stage. In large part Beijing owes its name to Pinyin,
from its original Peking; as well as the infamous communist leader and Dictator
Mao Zedong from his original (or traditional) name: Mao Tse-tung. The system
would later be adopted by the International Organization for Standardization
and the United Nations. Despite this achievement, Zhou Youguang is not a person
celebrated in China, for of course political reasons. Zhou Youguang was the
oldest political dissident of China, often criticizing the communist regime,
but as his life continued, he was struck with the unique ability of invincibility
of age and with it a loose tongue to let loose his opinions and views of the
situation in China. When asked about concerns about retaliation from the
Chinese communist government in 2012, Zhou Youguang remarked: “what are they
going to do? Come and take me away?”
Despite
his great accomplishment of creating Pinyin, Zhou Youguang was not a linguist
by training. Rather he was a economist, who had a deep love and interest in
linguistics, the Mandarin language, and lexicography. Yet these interests would
appear to save his life, as Mao Zedong despised economists – especially those
who had been trained or worked in the United States; where ironically enough Zhou
Youguang had worked during World War II, and the Sino-Japanese war. But this
was not the only strike working against Youguang either, his father was an official
during the Qing dynasty (the last Imperial dynasty of China before the
communists took control and maintain it). Yet it was a chance meeting and
conscription by the Chinese government to re-work the Mandarin language, which
changed Youguang’s fate and saved his life from imprisonment. Despite the
conscription, Zhou Youguang mainted his work with language and writing was amateur
at best; this was sloughed aside as he was told “Everyone is an amateur.” Yet
from there Zhou Youguang would become instrumental in the redevelopment of
Mandarin and how it is relayed both in script and in verbal capacity. The
entire Pinyin system took three years to create.
Despite
this marvelous achievement, Zhou Youguang was not immune to political upheavel,
specifically speaking The Cultural Revolution. Mao Zedong would define Zhou
Youguang as a reactionary academic, and he was sentenced to a labour camp where
he would work the rice fields in northern China. He would spend two years in
that agricultural hell of re-education, before returning to his home. Upon
returning though, it was back to work for Youguang, as he would continue to
write; and in his lifetime he would write forty books, and even help oversee
the translation of the Encyclopedia Britannica into Mandarin. Despite these
monumental accomplishments, many of Zhou Youguang are banned in China, and he
remains cultural insignificant officially in China, and has been left unknown
and obscure.
Rest
in Peace Zhou Youguang.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M. Mary
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